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Polling on five of the 14 seats in Assam will be held on April 11. (Representational Image)

Fourteen of the 41 candidates in Assam contesting the Lok Sabha election in the first phase on April 11 are either matriculates or not even that, including a sitting BJP MP, according to their poll affidavits.

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However, the list also has an ex-IITian, a retired professor of political science and some law and masters degree holders among others.

According to a law in Assam, a person needs to be at least Class 6 pass to become a member of a panchayat. The state’s BJP government wants that a minimum educational qualification for people wanting to contest assembly and parliamentary elections should also be fixed. Click here for more election news

The Supreme Court is hearing a plea seeking to fix educational qualification for poll candidates.

In Dibrugarh, BJP’s Rameshwar Teli, who is seeking a second successive term, is HSLC pass from Tipling Ghat High School in Duliajan. Among his rivals are veteran Congress leader and former Union minister Paban Singh Ghatowar, a Bachelor of Arts from St Antony College, Shillong, and Titus Bhengra, a retired professor of political science from DHSK College here.

According to Bhengra’s affidavit, he holds a PhD from Dibrugarh University.

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Both the Congress (Anil Borgohain) and BJP (Pradan Baruah) candidates in Lakhimpur seat are matriculates though the latter has a diploma in mechanical engineering.

Among the other contestants are Ubaidur Rahman (Asom Jana Morcha), who has studied till class 7, Ambaz Uddin (Ind), who is a matriculate, and Probhu Lal Vaishnava (Ind), who is a higher secondary pass.